I'm sorry, yet another P bass thread...

[JimmyM]

I've been using the fender flats for years now. The set on my P have 6 months of heavy use on them.
Perhaps a nickel wound flat would help? I'm pretty jazzed with how these fenders are feeling.

I wouldn't change them, then. If I'm comfy with a set of strings, I would never change them to something else.

 

[Gasman]

I haven't tried the Geezer's but they seem very, very nice from the clips I've heard. I do have an spb-2 on one of my P basses, and it is also very, very nice. Low mids are more pronounced than the stock pickups, but not muddy or fuzzy at all. With rounds or flats, it sounds terrific. I'm interested to see what you choose and what you think. Keep us posted.

BTW I've tried the spb-3, and IMO it's not what you are looking for. More of a scooped sound, deep low and singing high's, but didn't have that gritty thump that the spb-2 has. Probably better for hard rock.

 

[petrus61]

Sooo, it's definitely time for a slight upgrade in my faithful p bass. I play a wide range of music, but I try to build my sounds from a vintage soul, r&b type tone.

I'm not looking for highs at all.

What I'm really looking for, is to get a boost in the lower mids, with a bit of grit if necessary, but I don't want to lose warmth.
Everyone seems to be raving about the Geezer's, the guy at my local shop is a fan of the SBP-2, I'm intrigued by the Aguilar pickups. Also overwound Fralin's or Lollars seem like options.

Some questions I'm wrestling with are:
The Geezer's, is part of the magic in them from the fact that they're wired at 500k as opposed to 250k?

I noticed in the Aguilar video, Mr. Boonshoft talking about the "bloom" in the HOTP. Do you lose attack when you overwind pickups?

Lollar vs Fralin, from what I think I understand Lollar's are a warmer pickup, Fralin's typically have more "highs" than Lollar's. Is this sort of correct?

Overwound pickups, they tend to decrease treble and increase mids and lows. Is this an overgeneralisation?

There's no more magic to the Geezers than there is any other P pickup wound to the same spec with the same materials. To me, they sounded like a DiMarzio rehash with tamer lows. Nothing really elegant about their high mid presence, which is where a P pickup SPEAKS, IMO.

When I see descriptions that say "really cut through with the tone rolled off" paired with "subtle highs", I have to wonder how many P pickups someone has actually really tried before settling. You can't have both. The highs and high mids you would hear with the tone pot dimed are the top end of the frequencies that don't get bled to ground. The rest is what provides the pronounced (and visible through spectral analysis) mid hump of the "traditional" P bass pickup. The sweet spot for retaining these frequencies in a rolled off tone circuit, and the reason why so many wind up hating these hotter types, is 10-11.5kohms, IMO.

This is assuming a .047 capacitor is what is determining the freq cutoff. I would seriously consider where I tended to leave my tone set through the course of a gig and how much versatility I wanted from it across the board. Finger style? Pick? Slap/pop? If you tend to favor fingerstyle and pick, an upper mid voiced pickup is what's going to give you the initial attack character, or "thump".

Hotter wound pickups (12k-^) are going to lend themselves better to slap/pop or extended lows, IME, because of the scooped nature that comes as a result of the exaggerated higher and lower frequencies...the high mids that speak so well when the tone is rolled off in a traditional P pickup is kind of taken out of the equation.

 

[JimmyM]

There's no more magic to the Geezers than there is any other P pickup wound to the same spec with the same materials. To me, they sounded like a DiMarzio rehash with tamer lows. Nothing really elegant about their high mid presence, which is where a P pickup SPEAKS, IMO.

Considering you sold your Geezer to Clouz and bought my 62 Original, I could see where you would say that I'm the exact opposite. I found the high mids on the 62 Original offensive and the Geezers were Baby Bear's porridge for me...just right.

 

[petrus61]

Considering you sold your Geezer to Clouz and bought my 62 Original, I could see where you would say that I'm the exact opposite. I found the high mids on the 62 Original offensive and the Geezers were Baby Bear's porridge for me...just right.

Who's business is it in the first place who I buy and sell what from? Not for nothing Jimmy, but your opinions on the Geezer pickups mean about as much to me as a hot dog vendor touting the merits of sodium. No offense

 

[petrus61]

And why is it this is the second time you've pointed out I sold them and the fact that I bought your 62's when I dared utter something contrary to your experiences with them? Did Clouz happen to mention that I sold them to him for $40? Did he mention that I asked him not to mention the (private) sale until after they were out of pre production? Did he mention that I got them for free from a fellow TB'er and that they were destined for a nephews bass until I had realized his parents had bought him something better and he and I had no use for them? I'm not sure if I mentioned to Clouz the time and effort I put into installing them into two basses (after much trouble) to see if they even worked for my nephew, but I know I mentioned it in the original Geezer thread. Am I leaving anything out? I only had to point out the difference between what you kept referring to the "CS" pickup in your stock pre 2012 and the 62 that you replaced it with several times...

Clouz seemed genuinely interested in them way before your free set landed in the mail, so I figured he'd be the best guy to have them (he also plays in a Sabbath tribute). If I'd known there would be some weird back and forth PM'ing between you two, I would have just as soon kept them in a drawer in my basement. Not sure why you keep bringing this up, but I thought I'd throw it out there because your timing seems a little weird.

 

[JLubinsky-Mast]

There's no more magic to the Geezers than there is any other P pickup wound to the same spec with the same materials. To me, they sounded like a DiMarzio rehash with tamer lows. Nothing really elegant about their high mid presence, which is where a P pickup SPEAKS, IMO.

When I see descriptions that say "really cut through with the tone rolled off" paired with "subtle highs", I have to wonder how many P pickups someone has actually really tried before settling. You can't have both. The highs and high mids you would hear with the tone pot dimed are the top end of the frequencies that don't get bled to ground. The rest is what provides the pronounced (and visible through spectral analysis) mid hump of the "traditional" P bass pickup. The sweet spot for retaining these frequencies in a rolled off tone circuit, and the reason why so many wind up hating these hotter types, is 10-11.5kohms, IMO.

This is assuming a .047 capacitor is what is determining the freq cutoff. I would seriously consider where I tended to leave my tone set through the course of a gig and how much versatility I wanted from it across the board. Finger style? Pick? Slap/pop? If you tend to favor fingerstyle and pick, an upper mid voiced pickup is what's going to give you the initial attack character, or "thump".

Hotter wound pickups (12k-^) are going to lend themselves better to slap/pop or extended lows, IME, because of the scooped nature that comes as a result of the exaggerated higher and lower frequencies...the high mids that speak so well when the tone is rolled off in a traditional P pickup is kind of taken out of the equation.

I had to read this a few times for it to stop reading like greek to me (my ignorance, not your writing), but I think I'm understanding what you're saying. It's definitely food for thought.

I haven't tried the Geezer's but they seem very, very nice from the clips I've heard. I do have an spb-2 on one of my P basses, and it is also very, very nice. Low mids are more pronounced than the stock pickups, but not muddy or fuzzy at all. With rounds or flats, it sounds terrific. I'm interested to see what you choose and what you think. Keep us posted.

BTW I've tried the spb-3, and IMO it's not what you are looking for. More of a scooped sound, deep low and singing high's, but didn't have that gritty thump that the spb-2 has. Probably better for hard rock.

I definitely think I'll end up trying a few.

To be honest from what I've heard, without being able to hear a direct side by side comparison. I think the Geezer's may almost be too even for what I'm looking for, whereas the SPB-2 seem like they may be more exaggerated, which is what I'm thinking I'm looking for.

That being said, what petrus61 has wrote does make me wonder if I need to slightly tweak what I'm looking for in a pickup.

 

[divetone]

The sound clips Jimmy M posted in the Geezer threads speak for themselves. It's all subjective but in my rank amateur opinion I would say the perfect pup is the pup that you feel no need to fight or adjust any sliver of frequency range to get the sound that is in you head. His displeasure with the highs of his original 62's reinforce my experience with the ones in my P bass by the way.

 

[JimmyM]

And why is it this is the second time you've pointed out I sold them and the fact that I bought your 62's when I dared utter something contrary to your experiences with them? Did Clouz happen to mention that I sold them to him for $40? Did he mention that I asked him not to mention the (private) sale until after they were out of pre production? Did he mention that I got them for free from a fellow TB'er and that they were destined for a nephews bass until I had realized his parents had bought him something better and he and I had no use for them? I'm not sure if I mentioned to Clouz the time and effort I put into installing them into two basses (after much trouble) to see if they even worked for my nephew, but I know I mentioned it in the original Geezer thread. Am I leaving anything out? I only had to point out the difference between what you kept referring to the "CS" pickup in your stock pre 2012 and the 62 that you replaced it with several times...

Clouz seemed genuinely interested in them way before your free set landed in the mail, so I figured he'd be the best guy to have them (he also plays in a Sabbath tribute). If I'd known there would be some weird back and forth PM'ing between you two, I would have just as soon kept them in a drawer in my basement. Not sure why you keep bringing this up, but I thought I'd throw it out there because your timing seems a little weird.

Wow, calm down! You'll have a heart attack!

 

[4andnomore]

I really dig the '62 Originals. Warm and grunty, they absolutely nail the Bruce Thomas vibe (which I think maybe is what the OP is after). Frankly, I think they are highly underrated because they say Fender on the box and cost less than $100. I wouldn't trade mine for anything. The '57s with the raised pole pieces are a different animal altogether but also kick a**. IMHO of course. YMMV. Haven't tried the Geezers - not a big fan of EMG, but I'm over that if they sound good.

 

[4andnomore]

Sound clips are helpful, but really who can judge a pick-up without actually living with it for a few months. There are any number of excellent pick-ups that will likely suit the OPs needs, beyond which it really comes down to personal preference, not to mention playing style, different amps and whatnot.

That's at the beauty of the p-bass. Its relatively easy and affordable to try a wide variety of options. If you don't like something, you can always flip it for forty bucks or give it to your nephew

 

[howlin]

Invalid Link Removed might get the OP where he's trying to go.